Biofuels and the Challenges of a Changing World

04.03.2020

Transitioning to a low-carbon economy is one of the strong global megatrends of our time. Reducing energy consumption and replacing fossil resources with renewable materials are crucial steps on the path to realizing this development.

Our society’s dependence on depleting, non-renewable fossil resources and the resulting climate change are major driving forces behind political, social, and economic development. We must work hard now if we wish to ensure sustainable development in the future. The energy requirements of developing economies increase as industrialisation grows and people consume more and more. As the population continues to grow, food becomes scarcer and more expensive. Environmental damage and industrial use of the materials in the food chain are also partial causes of food shortage.

The dependence on fossil oil is related to its use not only as an energy source and transport fuel, but also as raw material for chemical products such as plastics. The scarcity of cost-efficient fossil oil increases its cost. At the same time, new biofuels become more competitive and we see progression in the development work to utilise them in energy production and e.g. the chemicals industry.
The competitiveness of biofuels is also boosted by their CO2-neutral nature, which means no CO2 emission allowances are required.
This progression opens new business opportunities to open-minded, responsible businesses whose operations are based around, for example, the development of technologies using innovative and renewable raw materials.Transitioning to a low-carbon economy is one of the strong global megatrends of our time. Reducing energy consumption and replacing fossil resources with renewable materials are crucial steps on the path to realizing this development.

Our society’s dependence on depleting, non-renewable fossil resources and the resulting climate change are major driving forces behind political, social, and economic development. We must work hard now if we wish to ensure sustainable development in the future. The energy requirements of developing economies increase as industrialisation grows and people consume more and more. As the population continues to grow, food becomes scarcer and more expensive. Environmental damage and industrial use of the materials in the food chain are also partial causes of food shortage.
The dependence on fossil oil is related to its use not only as an energy source and transport fuel, but also as raw material for chemical products such as plastics. The scarcity of cost-efficient fossil oil increases its cost. At the same time, new biofuels become more competitive and we see progression in the development work to utilise them in energy production and e.g. the chemicals industry.

The competitiveness of biofuels is also boosted by their CO2-neutral nature, which means no CO2 emission allowances are required.
This progression opens new business opportunities to open-minded, responsible businesses whose operations are based around, for example, the development of technologies using innovative and renewable raw materials.

Why Build Biorefineries in Finland?

Transitioning to a low-carbon economy is one of the strong global megatrends of our time. Reducing energy consumption and replacing fossil resources with renewable materials are crucial steps on the path to realizing this development.

Our society’s dependence on depleting, non-renewable fossil resources and the resulting climate change are major driving forces behind political, social, and economic development. We must work hard now if we wish to ensure sustainable development in the future. The energy requirements of developing economies increase as industrialisation grows and people consume more and more. As the population continues to grow, food becomes scarcer and more expensive. Environmental damage and industrial use of the materials in the food chain are also partial causes of food shortage.

The dependence on fossil oil is related to its use not only as an energy source and transport fuel, but also as raw material for chemical products such as plastics. The scarcity of cost-efficient fossil oil increases its cost. At the same time, new biofuels become more competitive and we see progression in the development work to utilise them in energy production and e.g. the chemicals industry.

The competitiveness of biofuels is also boosted by their CO2-neutral nature, which means no CO2 emission allowances are required.

This progression opens new business opportunities to open-minded, responsible businesses whose operations are based around, for example, the development of technologies using innovative and renewable raw materials.

Stronger Energy Self-Suffiency

Our planned bio-oil refinery investments will improve energy self-sufficiency while supporting distributed - i.e. located near the resource and end use - energy production, which is strategically important for Finland. They will also improve energy self-sufficiency trade balance thanks to reduced fossil oil importing.

In the future, our bio-oil is also planned to be used as a raw material for chemical export products, for example.

Creating Future Industry Jobs

In the short term, our planned bio-oil refineries will improve employment in areas adversely affected by the forest industry restructuring. In the longer term, they will provide new industry jobs all over Finland.

Bio-industry jobs will be a direct and indirect source of well-being in the future, both locally and nationally. In addition, the bio-oil refineries will open a new local refinement path for forest biomass.

New Innovation Environment

We also facilitate the development of, for example, mechanical engineering technology to support the needs of the refineries. All-new solutions may also be found for resource logistics. In addition, these innovations may become Finnish exports to the global market in the future.

An R&D focused, multi-disciplinary innovation network can also be developed around the world-class bio-oil refineries.